[SS] “Happy New Year!” Stan the Stat exclaimed.

[LL] “More importantly, good riddance to 2017!” Leroy the Lion insisted.

[SS] “You said the same thing last year.”

[LL] “I didn’t expect 2017 to be so much worse than 2016.”

[SS] “Well, you may not have had a great year, but Spaniard Adrian Mateos, at a mere 23 years old, certainly did. As did American Bryn Kenney, whom he edged out for Card Player Player of the Year honors in the closest race ever.¹ Kenney tied the record of 5 titles and set the record with 23 final tables, one more than Mateos, and even won a year-high $8,201,128, over $2.5 million more than Mateos, who notably became the first non-American to win the title.²

Kudos also to Fedor Holz who followed a runner-up finish last year with third place this year.”

Card Player Player of the Year – 1997 to 2003

Card Player Player of the Year – 2004 to Present

Notes:

• Men Nguyen won the award a record four times (1997, 2001, 2003, and 2005).
• T.J. Cloutier (1998 and 2002), David Pham (2000 and 2007), and Daniel Negreanu (2004 and 2013) have won twice each.
• Negreanu outpointed second place by the largest (2004) and third largest (2013) margins. Merson (2012) eked by with the smallest margin. { January 4, 2018 update: Mateos edged Kenney by a mere 47 points (0.7%) for the 2017 crown. Fedor Holz finished third for a second consecutive medal finish. }

Here are the all-time records for Points, Titles, and Final Tables with data going back to the rule changes of 2004.

Most Player of the Year Points

Notes:

• David Pham was the first player to finish in the Top 10 three times (2004 [2nd], 2007 [1st], and 2008 [1st]). Jason Mercier matched him in 2015 and Justin Bonomo and David Peters in 2016. Many players (16 through 2017) have done it twice.
• Erik Seidel and Jason Mercier are the only players to finish in the Top 25 five times. Phan, Peters, Dan Smith, Daniel Negreanu, J.C. Tran, John Juanda, Steve O’Dwyer, Erick Lindgren, and Joseph Mckeehen have each done it four times.
• Vanessa Selbst is the only women to finish in the Top 25, which she had done three times with two Top 10 finishes before retiring at the start of 2018.

Most Titles

Most Final Tables

Notes:

• Luong tops this list but is hardly a household name. The Californian has never won a WSOP bracelet, and his biggest cash was $290,792 for a runner-up finish in a WSOP circuit event in 2007.
• While it seems obvious to have another list with the top ten in Winnings, it’s a rather uninteresting list topped by the 2014 and 2012 One Drop winners followed by eight WSOP Main Event champs.

Footnotes:

1. In 2012, Greg Merson beat Dan Smith by 60 points (5,100 to 5,040) for a 1.18% margin, while Mateos overcame Kenney by just 57 points and a mere 0.65%.
2. Mateos first made a name for himself by winning the 2013 WSOP Europe Main Event in 2013 when he was just 19.

Related Links:

• See Card Player Player of the Year for sortable tables.

[SS] “Here are the career leaders in earnings, cashes, final tables, and titles at the end of the European Poker Tour’s eleventh complete season. { Note: updated below }

EPT Career Earnings

Notes:

• Other notable players in the top 20: Eugene Katchalov (12th: $3,874,218), Daniel Negreanu (14th: $3,703,145), Erik Seidel (17th: $3,555,153), and Daniel Colman (19th: $3,469,849).
• The top three women are Vanessa Selbst (11th: $3,959,891), Victoria Coren Mitchell (55th: $2,062,619) and Liv Boeree (59th: $1,995,160).

EPT Career Cashes

Notes:

• Romanello and Grospellier are the only players on this list who have won an EPT title.
• Ana Laura Marquez Esteban leads all women with 24 Cashes (tied for 72nd). Florence Allera has 22 (tied for 89th).

EPT Career Final Tables

Notes:

• EPT final tables consist of eight players.
• Despite leading in both Cashes and Final Tables, Konstantin Puchkov ranks only 164nd in Earnings ($1,173,368).
• McDonald, Wigg, and O’Dwyer are the only players on this list who have won an EPT title.
• Vanessa Selbst leads all women with 13 Final Tables (tied for 47th). Victoria Coren Mitchell has 10 (tied for 79th).
• The United States has reached the final table the most times, followed by the United Kingdom and France.

EPT Career Titles

Victoria Coren Mitchell is the only player with two EPT titles, having taken down the EPT London Main Event on September 24, 2006 and the EPT Sanremo Main Event on April 20, 2014.

Notes:

• Sandra Naujoks (2009 EPT German Open) and Liv Boeree (2010 EPT Sanremo) are the only other women to win an EPT main event.
• The United States and United Kingdom are currently tied with 16 winners each, three ahead of Germany.”

[LL] “Epic Poker Tables, Stan!” Leroy the Lion admired.

{ December 28, 2016: Final Update. With the EPT being rebranded as PokerStars Championships in 2017, the above Top Ten tables have been updated one last time below. }

Final EPT Career Earnings

Final EPT Career Cashes

Final EPT Career Final Tables

[SS] “The EPT Grand Final¹ has always had a 10,000-euro buy-in, but its rake has slowly crept up from 0 to 300 to 600 euros”, Stan the Stat continued. “The tournament originally ended the EPT season in March, but that has been in late April or early May since 2009.

European Poker Tour Grand Final Champions

Notes:

• Three Americans have won the EPT Grand Final — Williams, Griffin, and Charania — but you could also include O’Dwyer, who moved to Ireland after the major online poker sites shut down in the U.S. on Black Friday. No other country has won more than twice; Hollink and De-Korver both hail from the Netherlands.
• 2007 runner-up Marc Karam is the only player who has reached the final table multiple times, finishing 4th the year before. Ben Grundy almost matched him, finishing 7th in 2005 and bubbling (9th) the following year.⁴
• 2012 runner-up Frenchwoman Lucille Cailly is the only female to make the final table.
• The 2008 event featured the largest first prize in EPT history ($3,196,354), but the following year had the most players (935).
• After paying fewer than 10% of the players from 2006 to 2009, including a low of 7.6% in 2008, the EPT has rewarded about 15% of the field since 2010.

European Poker Tour Grand Final Final Hands

Notes:

• The chips went all-in preflop every year except 2005 (river), 2007 (flop), 2009 (flop), and 2013 (turn).
• The eventual winner got his money in good every time except 2007 (45%), 2011 (40%), and 2013 (23%, hitting a 10-outer on the river). In 2009, De-Korver was ahead on the flop, but Woodward actually had a better chance of winning (44% to 32% with a 24% chance of a push) because of his nine flush outs.”

Footnotes:

1. The season-ending EPT championship was officially called the European Poker Tour Grand Final from 2004 to 2011 but has been referred to as the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final since 2012.
2. Adrian Mateos took down the 2015 title just hours after this article was posted.
3. Jan Bendik won the final 2016 title on May 6, 2016.
4. Johnny Lodden joined Karam with a third place finish in 2014 and a fourth in 2015.

Related Links:

• Aussie Millions Main Event Final Hands
• Irish Open Main Event Final Hands
• WPT World Championships Final Hands
• WSOP Europe and Asia Main Event Final Hands
• WSOP Main Event Final Hands

[SS] “Did you guys see that Phil Ivey won the Aussie Millions Super High Roller again?” Stan the Stat queried.

[RR] “The guy’s not human”, Roderick the Rock noted in assent.

[LL] “How many times has he won it now?” Leroy the Lion inquired.

[SS] “Three times in the last four years, although he also played in the first event in 2011.”

[RR] “That’s insane.”

[SS] “Yeah, even with the small fields — 20, 16, 18, 30, and 25 — three wins over such a tough group of pros is incredible. I don’t know what secrets he’s figured out, but he’s taken in almost a third of his career tournament earnings here¹.”

[RR] “Who won the Main Event this year?”

[SS] “Manny Stavropoulos, a local from South Melbourne. He’s a cash game player who also plays in many of the big tournaments in Australia but previously had only amassed about $135,000 in tournament earnings and never won an event. He returned the crown to the home country after three years:

Aussie Millions Champions

Notes:

• An Australian has won the title 11 times: the first five from 1998 to 2002, four in a row from 2009 to 2012, 2015, and 2017.
• No other country has won more than twice (England in 2003 and 2004; New Zealand 2005 and 2006). The remaining title have been captured by Denmark (2007), Russia (2008), Malaysia (2013), and Canada (2014).
• An American was the runner-up every year from 2004 to 2009 before Ari Engel finally broke through and won it all in 2016.
• The event was originally known as the [Crown] Australian Poker Championships, has also been referred to as the Australasian Poker Championships, and has officially been the Aussie Millions Poker Championship since 2003.
• The events took place in the winter (July and August) the first four years before moving to the summer (January then late January to early February) in 2002.
• The Main Event was contested in Limit Hold ‘Em in 1998 and Pot Limit Hold ‘Em in 1999 but has been No Limit ever since 2000.
• The buy-in increased from $1,000 Australian dollars in 1998 to $1,500 in 2000 to $5,000 in 2002 to $10,000 since 2003.”

[SS] “Unfortunately, many of the final hands from the early years have been lost, at least as far as the Internet is concerned, but here’s what I could find:

Aussie Millions Final Hands³

Notes:

• There was no deciding hand in 2019 as an ICM deal was struck three-way.
• Pocket Aces won on the final hand four times from 2007 to 2014.
• Stacks are still reasonably deep heads up. The chips went all-in preflop 4 times (1999, 2009, 2012, and 2014), on the flop 4 times (2004, 2007, 2008, and 2010), on the turn 3 times (2000, 2011, and 2013), and on the river 6 times (2001, 2006, and 2015-2018) [unknown the remaining 4 years (1998, 2002, 2003, and 2005)⁴].”

[SS] “Lastly, two players have reached three final tables,⁵ and nine have reached two.”

• 3: Leo Boxell (1998 [4th], 2000 [1st], and 2003 [2nd]) and Martin Comer (2000 [5th], 2003 [7th], and 2005 [4th]).
• 2: David Gorr (1998 [3rd] and 2011 [1st]), Gerry Fitt (2000 [2nd] and 2001 [7th]; the first back-to-back final tablist), Jamil Dia (2001 [6th] and 2005 [1st]), Jason Gray (1998 [6th] and 2000 [4th]), Lee Nelson (2002 [4th] and 2006 [1st]; also 8th in 2001), Mike Ivin (1998 [5th] and 2004 [7th]), Sam Khouiss (1999 [4th] and 2003 [4th]), Sorel Mizzi (2010 [3rd] and 2014 [2nd]), and Toby Atroshenko (2001 [4th] and 2002 [6th]; the second back-to-back final tablist).
• Honorable Mention: Gary Benson (2000 [3rd] and 2005 [8th]) and Patrik Antonius (2011 [8th] and 2013 [3rd]).

Footnotes:

1. Ivey’s career tournament earnings are now just over $22 million, of which $7.3 million have come from the Aussie Millions Super High Roller (in 2015, officially called The LK Boutique Challenge as it was sponsored by LK Jewellery).
2. Amazingly, Gus Hansen planned to write a book about his 2007 Aussie Millions run and then went on to win the event! That certainly gave a huge boost to the sales of Every Hand Revealed in which Hansen shares his thoughts on every important hand he played.
3. { Updates: } 2019 data added Feburary 27, 2019. 2018 data added February 8, 2018. 2017 data added February 3, 2017. 2016 data added March 16, 2016.
4. Any information about the missing final hands would be most appreciated!
5. Play starts eight-handed and drops to six-handed at 36 players, but the official final table is seven players according to Wikipedia’s Aussie Millions article.

Related Links:

• European Poker Tour Grand Final Final Hands
• Irish Open Main Event Final Hands
• WPT World Championships Final Hands
• WSOP Europe and Asia Main Event Final Hands
• WSOP Main Event Final Hands

[DD] “Did you guys notice Figaro the Fish trying to teach his nephew Flounder how to play Texas Hold ‘Em?” Deb the Duchess asked, still smiling from collecting her half-pot from their Main Event wager.

[RR] “I was very tempted to jump in to save the little guy from having to unlearn everything his uncle teaches him”, Roderick the Rock admitted. “But I managed to suppress the urge.”

[LL] “I don’t think they’d been here five minutes when I heard Figaro rambling on about coloring up, squeeze plays, and Post Oak bluffs”, Leroy the Lion added.

[TT] “You may think it’s the blind leading the blind / but the elder fish is sadly maligned”, Tyrone the Telephone complained.

[DD] “We’re just teasing him, you know.”

[RR] “Besides, what would Texas Hold ‘Em be without the blinds?”

[LL] “Even the blind can play Hold ‘Em.”

[SS] “Yeah, do you remember back in 2007, when Hal Lubarsky became the first blind player to cash in the World Series of Poker Main Event?” Stan the Stat contributed.

[RR] “I’m surprised I haven’t seen another blind player on TV since then. I guess that wasn’t enough to make the game popular in the blind and visually impaired community.”

[LL] “Braille playing cards and poker chips that come in different shapes aren’t that expensive, but I guess it’s still a big challenge to make sure you collect the entire pot and pick up all the cards each hand.”

[DD] “At least they have a great iPhone and iPad app to learn and practice Hold ‘Em with now. THETA Poker Pro has always been fully accessible, but most of the recent updates have been to improve accessibility. Apparently, you don’t even need to find your cards on the table to play anymore! I played with VoiceOver on for a while because it was cool to hear all the action announced, but sighted users gained that feature with iOS 7.”¹

[RR] “So, Siri tells you what your hole cards are and announces the community cards and all the bets?”

[DD] “Yes. And the player who’s won the hand, their cards, and hand strength.”

[LL] “Can you ask Siri for advice on how to play the hand?”

[DD] “Very funny. You can tell her, ‘Launch THETA Poker’, but if you want more than that, try emailing the developer.”

[RR] “We’d certainly welcome blind players to our home tourney.”

[LL] “All new players for that matter. We’ll have Figaro teach them so they don’t get better than us too quickly.”

[TT] “When I find a blind player trying to steal my blind, I won’t be resigned / I’ll respond in kind, put him in a bind, take his chips with three-of-a-kind.”

Footnotes:

1. Voice announcements were added to the game for iOS 7 users in Version 1.2.1 on September 23, 2013. Go to the “Options/Music & Sound/Announce” menu and select either “Messages Only” or “All”.

Related Links:

• Advocates for blind, deaf want more from Apple

[SS] “Do you guys know what the second oldest still-running Texas Hold ‘Em event is?” Stan the Stat teased.

[RR] “After the World Series of Poker?” Roderick the Rock surmised.

[SS] “Yep.”

[RR] “I have no idea.”

[LL] “Isn’t it the Irish Open?” Leroy the Lion offered. “A bunch of the Irish guys at the pub tournament talk about it occasionally.”

[SS] “Right you are. Irish bookmaker Terry Rogers was in Las Vegas on a business trip when the 1979 World Series of Poker was happening and befriended Irish American Benny Binion. The Red Menace, Rogers’ nickname on account of his flaming hair, had already been running charity tournaments with ‘Gentleman’ Liam Flood at their Eccentrics Club,¹ so the following year they transformed the events into the Irish Open, usually held each year on Easter weekend.² The event became the Paddy Poker Irish Open in 2005 but is now back to being just the Irish Open.”

[SS] “The Main Event of the 32nd³ Irish Open begins today, with a €2,000+250 entry fee and will run for four days to crown a champion to add to this winners’ list.”

Irish Open Champions⁴

[SS] “Some interesting factoids from the event:”

• After Colette Doherty won the first Irish Open in 1980, Rogers convinced her to enter the World Series of Poker Main Event even though she didn’t know how to play Texas Hold ‘Em (the Irish Open was 5-card stud that first year). She was the first woman and the first European to play in the WSOP Main Event but didn’t survive the first day when Bob Hooks upended her full house with a bigger boat. In 2000, she finished 12th in the WSOP $1,000+60 Women’s Championship (Limit Hold’em/7 Card Stud).
• Two other women have won the Irish Open: Irene Tier in 1985 and Jenny Hegarty, who became the event’s oldest winner as a 72-year old grandmother in 2001! She had previously finished 2nd in 1999 and 8th in 1994.
• Jimmy Langan became the first two-time champion in 1988. Noel Furlong joined him the next year, Doherty in 1991, and Liam Flood in 1996.³
• Noel Furlong became the only three-time champion in 1992 and conquered the WSOP Main Event seven years later (fellow Irishmen Padraig Parkinson [3rd] and George McKeever [7th] also did well). Furlong also finished 2nd in his first Irish Open in 1984, 3rd in 2002, and 32nd in 2011; he also finished 6th in the WSOP Main Event in 1989. Rogers is credited with teaching Furlong how to play poker.
• Julian Gardner was runner-up at both the 2000 Irish Open and the 2002 WSOP Main Events.
• Englishman Neil Channing won the biggest first prize in the Irish Open in 2008, when the entry fee peaked at 4,200€+300, as he survived a field of 667 players to take home the event’s only million-dollar prize of $1,263,261 (801,400€).
• The largest field, however, was a tie between 2007 and 2010, with 708 players, just eight more than in 2009. The 2007 event set a record for the largest Hold ‘Em tournament in Europe.
• While the majority of the champions have been Irish, there have been three Americans (Kelly, Byrne, and Beirne), five Englishmen (Beevers, Falconer, Channing, Mitchell, and Simpson), a Swede (Johansson), and a Belgian (Vandersmissen).
• The entry fee has jumped around even more than the venue, including 500£ in 1994, 250I£ in 1999, 700+70€ in 2002, a peak of 4,200+300€ in 2008, and a drop down from 3,200+300€ to the current 2,000+250€ in 2013.
• In 2012, Ian Simpson finished fourth. The following year, he made it to heads up before finishing off Michael Farrelly in a mere three hands. Simpson then proposed successfully to his girlfriend, Emma Rodham. Not what you usually mean when you say someone has a trophy wife.

[LL] “And not the usual ring game for a poker player.”

[RR] “Nor winning a hand.”

[SS] “Speaking of winning hands… Information is very scarce before 2007, but here are all of the winning hands since then:”

Irish Open Final Hands Since 2007⁴

[RR] “Was that the Kara Scott, from the poker shows on TV?”

[SS] “Indeed. She won over four hundred thousand dollars for the best result of her poker career.”

Footnotes:

1. The Irish Open stayed at the Eccentrics Club until 1996. After Rogers passed away in 1999, it moved to the Merrion Casino Club, which remained its home until 2005. The event then bounced around to Jury’s Ballsbridge Hotel in 2006, the Burlington Hotel in 2007, and Citywest Hotel in 2008 and 2009, before returning to the Burlington for good in 2010. The Burlington was renamed the Double Tree by Hilton in 2014. All of the sites have been in Dublin.
2. The Irish Open’s Main Event has started on Good Friday, or the day before or after, every year that I know of except 2002, when it was held on June 1.
3. The Irish Open wasn’t held in 1995, 1997, or 1998. Some sources give Charlie Power as the 1995 winner, but Hendon lists that event as the Real Irish Open on March 1, 1995, a small-buyin event (just 50£) with only a 2,500£ first prize (furthermore, Good Friday wasn’t until April 14 in 1995). Other sources say Mickey Finn won his second title in 1998, but with no details like first prize, field size, or his heads-up opponent; Liam Flood himself said there was no event in 1998. That makes this the 32nd event, not the 33rd.
4. 2014 winners and final hands added on April 26, 2014. 2015 winners and final hands added on April 8, 2015. 2016 winners and final hands added on May 13, 2016. With the entry fee lowered to 1,025+125€, the number of entries jumped from 321 to a record 802. 2017 winners and final hands added on April 4, 2017.
5. All prizes are given in approximate dollar equivalents. Actual prizes were in pounds until 1994 or 1996, in Irish pounds until 2001, and in euros since.
6. The number of players who cashed is higher than usual from 1994 to 2002 because the tournament allowed one or two rebuys in those years (e.g., there were 11 rebuys in 2000 and 22 in 2001).

Related Links:

• Aussie Millions Main Event Final Hands
• European Poker Tour Grand Final Final Hands
• WPT World Championships Final Hands
• WSOP Europe and Asia Main Event Final Hands
• WSOP Main Event Final Hands

[RR] “At least a couple of your poker player taglines, like Hachem’s ‘Pass the sugar!’, are also catchphrases”, Roderick the Rock remarked, “Do you have a list of those?”

[SS] “Of course I do”, Stan the Stat confirmed, “albeit with a wide range of catchiness.”

[RR] “Hold ‘Em is full of catches. You can catch a couple cards on the turn and river to catch up and catch your opponent off guard. Catch fire by doing that a few times, catch the chip leaders, and you can catch your big break by making the final table of the WSOP Main Event. That would certainly catch the eye of the poker world, but the break before the November Nine will let you catch your breath, catch forty winks, catch a plane home, and catch up with your life.”

[SS] “Sure. But if you win, don’t catch flak¹ by stiffing your partner, like Jamie Gold in 2006,² or the IRS, whose army can catch tax evaders like Jerry Yang the next year.”³

Poker Player Catchphrases

Footnotes:

1. Or, if you prefer, “H-E-double hockey sticks”, as long as we’re channeling M*A*S*H today.
2. Gold had promised half of his winnings, tried to renege, but eventually conceded an unknown amount, but probably the intended $6 million.
3. Yang’s championship bracelet was put up for auction to help pay his taxes.

[RR] “Just saw the tweet of the year this weekend, comparing the end of the Vikings-Ravens football game to a Texas Hold ‘Em hand. Stan, you’d really get along well with the guy, Bill Bowen!”

[SS] “I’m sure I would”, Stan the Stat agreed. “I didn’t see the game, but I caught the highlights, and they were ridiculous! 36 points in two and half minutes!?”¹

[RR] “The craziness began with the Vikings up 12-7, but with 1:27 to go in the game, the Vikings led 19-15 and had a win probability² of 88.8%, which is like holding A♥A♦ all-in preflop against 7♥K♠ (87.7% for the Aces). When Jacoby Jones returned the ensuing kickoff 77 yards for a touchdown with 1:16 left, the odds swung to 84.0% in Baltimore’s favor, which would be like a flop of K♦K♥3♠ for a set of Kings (91.4% for the King-Seven). When Matt Cassel hit Cordarrelle Patterson for a 79-yard touchdown with 45 seconds to go, the odds swung back to 96.4% for the Vikings, which is close to the odds after an Ace (A♠) on the turn for a better set (97.7% for the Aces). Finally, the last Ravens drive resulted in a 9-yard touchdown pass from Flacco to Marlon Brown with four seconds on the game clock (win probability 98.4%, but the ensuing kickoff killed the final seconds of the game uneventfully), like spiking the case King (K♣) on the river for winning quads.”

[SS] “Who says poker isn’t as exciting as football ;-)?”

[RR] “Poker lingo has seeped into our everyday English lexicon for a long time now, but that was a magnificent modern metaphor.”

[SS] “Speaking of which, here’s my list of poker terms that are now commonly used outside the game.”

Cards/Hands

• above board: on the level (from keeping your cards above the table in poker so opponents can see that you’re not cheating)
• ace in the hole: a resource unknown to your opponent (from stud poker, where you have cards that your opponents can’t see)
• ace up your sleeve: your hidden, possibly unfair, advantage (also “card” instead of “ace”)
• four-flusher: cheater (from players trying to represent a flush despite having only four instead of five of one suit)
• have something down pat: well-practiced or memorized (from being dealt a made hand in draw poker, which allows you stand pat and not draw any cards)
• hold all the cards: control the situation (also, “aces” instead of “cards”)
• hold your cards close to your vest: keep your thoughts and plans secret (in casinos, this is no longer an acceptable way of hiding your cards’ identities; also “chest” instead of “vest”)
• lay all your cards on the table: tell the complete truth (from the end of a poker hand when everyone shows their cards)
• the nuts: the best of something (from Hold ‘Em and other stud games)
• play the hand you’re dealt: don’t worry about what you can’t change (or “can’t tell what kind of hand you’re playing”)
• play your cards right: use your resources effectively (the obvious poker advice)
• showdown: final confrontation (from when players reveal their cards at the end of a poker hand)
• tip your hand: reveal your intended action (from accidentally revealing your hidden cards to your opponents)
• wasn’t in the cards: inevitable, possibly because of luck (from the obvious)
• wild card: unknown variable in a situation (from draw poker and other games with wild cards that can represent any other card)

Chips

• blue-chip: valuable (from the most valuable poker chips such as when white, red, and blue chips are used; e.g., “blue-chip stock”)
• cash in your chips: dying; taking a profit (from converting your chips back into legal tender)
• chip in: contribute (especially from the ante at the beginning of a hand, where each player puts in the same amount of chips)
• in the chips: rich, or at least currently winning (from the obvious possession of lots of chips)
• jackpot: a large prize (from jacks-or-better draw poker, where the pot would be “jacked-up” due to the opening qualifier [via slot machines in 1932])
• stack up against something: compare two items or ideas (from comparing chip stacks physically instead of having to count all the chips)
• when the chips are down: in a difficult situation (from the obvious lack of poker chips)

Dealing

• big deal: important (from a hand with a large pot)
• deal me in: let me participate (from the start of a poker hand)
• deal off the bottom: cheat (from one way to cheat at cards)
• dealt a bad hand: unlucky (from the obvious)
• double dealing: cheating (from dealing a cheating confederate an extra card)
• lost in the shuffle: easily overlooked amid confusion (from the intentional randomness created when shuffling playing cards)
• luck of the draw: a result beyond your control (from draw poker, where you discard from your hand and get new cards from the deck)
• pass the buck: foist responsibility onto another person (from the dealer button, which at times in the 19th century was a buck’s horn-handled hunting knife [via Buckhorn Poker or Buck Poker]³; similarly, “the buck stops here”
• square deal: honest transaction (from the squaring up of the playing card deck to prevent cheating)
• stack the deck: arrange things unfairly (from one way of cheating at poker; also “cards” instead of “deck”)

Betting/Folding

• ante up: contribute (from the start of a hand in some poker games)
• all-in: committed to an action (from the act of betting all of your chips)
• bet the farm: stake everything on an action (possibly from before table stakes were common, so you could literally bet any of your possessions in a poker game; or “ranch” instead of “farm”)
• bet your bottom dollar: all-in (from the bottom dollar representing your whole stack of money or chips)
• bluff: represent something that isn’t true (from the Dutch bluffen “to brag, boast” or verbluffen “to baffle, mislead”⁴)
• fold: quit (from the obvious)
• know when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em: able to tell when to compete and when to give up (from the obvious poker advice and made famous by Kenny Rogers)
• overplay your hand: pretend to be stronger than you are (from bad poker playing)
• penny ante: small stakes (from the smallest poker stakes)
• raise the ante: increase the stakes (from cash games; in most tournaments, you raise the blinds instead; also “stakes” instead of “ante”)
• sandbag: intentionally play a strong hand weakly (a.k.a. slowplaying in poker)
• stand pat: take no action (from draw poker, where a pat hand is a straight or better)
• sweeten the pot: increase the wager (from a bet which is intended to increase the pot size rather than cause anyone to fold)
• you bet!: agreed (from the obvious)

Other

• freeroll: a chance at winning something for no cost (from freeroll tournaments which have prizes but no entry fee)
• on the bubble: on the fence (from the point in a poker tournament where everyone remaining will win money after one more player busts out)
• poker face: emotionless (from the act of not letting your expression reveal how strong your hand is)
• tell: mannerism that indicates your position (from any emotion, mannerism, gesture, or oral indication that reveals how strong your hand is)

Footnotes:

1. Also, a record five touchdowns in 2:01, well under half the four decade-old previous record of 5:40 (Bengals-Oilers in 1972).
2. You can calculate the win probability given the score, down, field position, and time left in any NFL game (except kickoffs, apparently). {December 24, 2015 update: alas, the real-time calculator no longer seems to be available. December 28, 2021 update: replaced deprecated link}
3. When silver dollars were used as buttons, they became known as bucks.
4. Source: bluff entry in the Online Etymology Dictionary.

Flash replayer version of the “hand”

Full Tilt Poker formatted version, suitable for inputting into various poker analysis tools

Full Tilt Poker Game #0000001410: Table M&T Bank Stadium - 50,000/100,000 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:43:21 EDT - 2013/12/08
Seat 1: Minnesota (500,000)
Seat 2: Baltimore (500,000)
Minnesota posts the big blind of 100,000
Baltimore posts the small blind of 50,000
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Baltimore raises to 500,000, and is all in
Minnesota calls 400,000, and is all in
*** FLOP *** [Kd Kh 3s]
*** TURN *** [Kd Kh 3s] [As]
*** RIVER *** [Kd Kh 3s As] [Kc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Minnesota shows [Ah Ad] full house, Kings over Aces
Baltimore shows [7h Ks] four Kings
Baltimore wins the pot (1,000,000) with four Kings
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1,000,000 | Rake 0
Board: [Kd Kh 3s As Kc]
Seat 1: Minnesota (button) showed [Ah Ad] and lost with full house, Kings over Aces
Seat 2: Baltimore (big blind) showed [7h Ks] and won (1,000,000) with four Kings

[RR] “Stan, all your lists have been poker skill-related or historical. Don’t you have any fun lists?” Roderick the Rock wondered.

[SS] “They’re all fun to me ;-)”, Stan the Stat half-joked. “Okay, I do have one list that has no real value: Poker Chip Tricks.”

[RR] “They have some value; you could use them to psych out your opponents. Leroy the Lion does a few of them.”

[SS] “Amateur (just kidding; he’s much better than me). But he’s still hundreds if not thousands of hours of practice behind the ‘pros’ I’ve seen on YouTube. I’ve seen our feline friend do simple shuffles, flips, and twirls, but there are at least a half dozen more basic types of chip tricks:”

Shuffle

• Basic Version: Chip Shuffle (a.k.a. Chip Riffle)
• Description: Divide a stack of chips (any even number from 6 to 20 or more) into two piles, then, with one hand, shuffle them back into a single pile like playing cards by applying inward pressure as you lift your fingers from the bottom to the top.
• Tutorial: Rich Ferguson Chip Shuffle tutorial
• Comments: To learn the Shuffle, you can start with just two chips and work your way up to four, six, eight, and more. It may be easier to learn on a soft surface like a poker table than a hard surface like a desk.
• Examples: Aerial Shuffle (Shuffle using only the top part of an extra-high stack of chips), Partial Shuffle (start a shuffle but leave the chips balanced with alternate chips sticking out on either side), Air Traffic Control Tower (Partial Aerial Shuffle) and Stephen Au-Yeung Christmas Tree (3 stacks partially shuffled into a tree-shape)

Flip

• Basic Version: Thumb Flip (a.k.a. Chip Pullover)
• Description: Start by holding a stack of chips (anywhere from two to six) between the tips of your fingers, use your thumb to roll the outermost chip up your index finger and out of the stack, then push it down at the other end of the stack.
• Tutorial: Thumb Flip, Finger Flip, and Lookout tutorial
• Comments: The Thumb Flip is one of the easiest chips trick to learn to do consistently.
• Examples: Finger Flip (a.k.a. Dutch Boyd Finger Flip; index finger grabs and lifts the outermost coin; demo), Lookout (like a reverse Thumb Flip using the index finger), Run Over (Lookout variation), Back to Front (Thumb Flip from the rear to the front; demo), Thumb Flip Inverse (Thumb Flip + Back to Front), Run Away (Back to Front with an added flip), Thumb Flip Empty (Thumb Flip on the backmost chip, so it spins but ends up in the same place), Pick (index and middle fingers simply lift front chip out and replace in back), Abduction (Pick variation), and Run Around (Pick variation that starts with a partial Thumb Flip on the back chip)

Twirl

• Basic Version: Twirl
• Description: Hold a chip between any two fingers (counting the thumb as a finger) and spin 180 degrees or more around a diameter with a third finger.
• Tutorial: The Twirl itself is too simple for a tutorial but is part of more complicated tricks like the Chip Twirl (a.k.a. Spin and Twirl or Twirl In and Out). flop2river0 Chip Twirl tutorial and Antonio Esfandiari’s Chip Twirl tutorial
• Comments: Practicing the basic twirl with any three fingers that aren’t thumbs is great for honing the touch you’ll need for many twirl and butterfly tricks.
• Examples: Swirl (Chip Twirl where the chip gets replaced in front instead of the middle), J-Factor¹ (lift, spin, and replace the back chip), Danish Twirl (lift the front chip, twirl the back chip, and replace the front chip in back), Lift Twirl (finger flip to a float, twirl the 2nd chip, and replace the first chip in the middle), Twirl Lift (drop, twirl, lift, and float the back chip, drop, twirl, and replace the middle chip, then replace the float chip), Scissor Twirl (chip twirl plus a extra spin before replacement; Jakub “MisteroCZ” Machata tutorial), Finger to Finger Twirl (drop and twirl bottom chip, twirl top chip and replace behind), Sub Zero (lift, twirl, spin, and replace back chip), Multi Twirl (Twirl of 360 degrees or more), and Twin Twirl (twirl top and bottom chips simultaneously)

Butterfly

• Basic Version: Butterfly
• Description: Start by holding a stack of four chips between the finger tips of one hand, split them into two groups of two, then split those so each chip is spread out between each adjacent pair of fingers.
• Tutorial: Rich Ferguson Butterfly tutorial²) and Joe Ferguson tutorial for the Butterfly
• Comments: What makes this trick hard is doing things with your fingers as if they were opposable thumbs. Since you’ve spent your whole life not doing that, you’ll need a lot of practice to get the touch. Easier with newer chips before the edges get too smooth.
• Examples: Four Chip Roll Down (a different way to get to the Butterfly position and one of several chip tricks that began as a coin trick; Antonio Esfandiari tutorial and Rich Ferguson tutorial), Caterpillar (another way to get to the Butterfly position; slow motion, soundless video), Batwing (4-chip position like spreading wings), Butterfly Reverse, Fat Butterfly (8-chip Butterfly with 2 chips between each finger), Balance (end Butterfly chip by balancing chips on fingertips), Quad (4 chips around one finger), 5 Coin Star, Pendulum (3-chip pendulum-like motion), Bicycle (2-chip Butterfly with spinning wheels), Nuage (6 chips in two triangles), 6 Coin Star (5 Coin Star with extra chip in the middle), Galaxy (9 chips in 2 hands), Caterpillar Star (Caterpillar with a fifth chip), Finger Roll (a.k.a., Wagon Wheel if vertical, Flying Saucer if horizontal, and Cycle Round or Sputnik if complete circle; 1 chip moving between fingers; Stephen Au-Yeung Finger Roll tutorial), Finger Roll Combo (rotate two chips between fingers), and Rich Ferguson Rock ‘n Roll (rotate 2 chips around a finger; tutorial from the inventor)

Knuckle Roll

• Basic Version: Knuckle Roll³
• Description: Repeatedly flip a chip across your knuckles from the thumb to the index finger to the middle finger to the ring finger. Drop the chip between the ring finger and pinky to the thumb and repeat.
• Tutorial: Stephen Au-Yeung Knuckle Roll Tutorial
• Comments: This is a fairly easy trick, but it takes a lot of practice to do smoothly and quickly. Although the roll can go across almost any part of your fingers, it looks best between the bottom two knuckles.
• Examples: Reverse Knuckle Roll (thumb pushes chip up between the ring finger and pinky), and Two-Chip Knuckle Roll (two simultaneous Knuckle Rolls with the same hand); Stephen Au-Yeung video of these two plus other variations

Chip Roll/Spin

• Basic Version: Backspin (a.k.a. Screwback)
• Description: Squeeze down the side of a chip with heavy pressure so that when it shoots out, it has enough backspin to come back to you.
• Tutorial: Sebastien Brouillard Backspin and Drifter tutorial
• Comments: Different chips and different surfaces will require adjusting how much spin you use. You can use a chip lying on the table as your surface if that helps.
• Examples: Drifter (Backspin around a stack of chips), Chip Roll (roll chips down one hand and across the table to the other hand; Stephen Au-Yeung tutorial), Roll Around (a.k.a. Stack Roll; roll chip around a chip stack), Top Spin (spin a chip on top of a chip stack), Spin and Stop (spin a chip on the table, and stop its motion by placing a finger on top [best on a hard table]), and Peter Rockne Chip Launching (hold three chips in a stack above one chip that squeezes the upper middle chip out with lots of force and backspin)

Floater

• Basic Version: Floater (a.k.a. Finger Rest)
• Description: Balance a chip on a finger while doing other tricks.
• Tutorial: Like the twirl, the Floater is too simple for a tutorial by itself but is used as part of other tricks.
• Comments: This is a simple balancing flair used to embellish other tricks.
• Examples: Antarctica (Float one chip then Twirl a second chip before Floating it on top of the first) and Subway (Float three chips on different fingers after twirling each)

Muscle Pass

• Basic Version: Muscle Pass (also called Anti-Gravity)
• Description: Squeeze a chip in the palm of your hand so hard that it shoots upward six inches or more to be caught by your other hand.
• Tutorial: Antonio Esfandiari tutorial
• Comments: Esfandiari says that it could takes hundreds of attempts to get the chip to jump the first time. Practice just to build up your muscles even if you get no results. And it hurts, even for a master like him.
• Examples: Sideways Muscle Pass and Multi Pass (2 simultaneous sideways passes)

Bounce

• Basic Version: Bounce
• Description: Drop a poker chip so it bounces off the table and lands on top of a chip stack.
• Tutorial: Flop2River.com instructions for the Chip Bounce
• Comments: For a higher bounce, either drop the chip from a higher position or throw it down at the table. Some people call the throw a Bounce and the drop a Dribble Bounce (or Drop Bounce). The harder variations, like the 666 Bounce, are mostly pure luck, so stick with the simpler variations that you can succeed with in a few tries.
• Examples: Bounce Back (toss a chip and catch it between two chips after a bounce off the table), Fountain (two chips bounce simultaneously between and onto two stacks), Moon Landing (throw a chip onto a stack), Flip Bounce (flip a chip into the air before it bounces), Bounce Twice (bounce over stack then back onto it), and 666 Bounce (same as Bounce Twice but from a toss in the air instead of a downward throw)

Miscellaneous

• Basic Version: N/A
• Description: Any other chip trick that doesn’t fit into one of the above categories.
• Tutorial: N/A
• Comments: Here’s your chance to invent your own chip trick (and name it after yourself).
• Examples: Evelyn Ng Chip Sweep (spread a stack of chips out on a table, then sweep them back up; Seth Engstrom tutorial), Mexican Jumping Chip (hang one chip off the edge of one stack and hit down on it with another stack to have it end up on top of the second stack; video where it immediately follows a Bounce), Unwrap Recapture (start with a 3-chip stack, toss the middle one in the air, and catch it back in the middle), Demon Recapture (same as Unwrap Recapture but with a bounce off your leg), Rollercoaster (roll a chip from your hand down your arm, bounce it off your bicep, and catch it between 2 chips), Chip Snap (more annoyance than trick), and Chip Juggling (simple 3 “ball” juggle, but you could do almost any standard juggling trick)⁴

Footnotes:

1. The ‘J’ in “J-Factor” stands for “jump”.
2. The part that’s cut off at the end is the Butterfly Balance: balancing the four chips on the finger tips.
3. PokerStars referred to the Knuckle Roll as the Caterpillar in an ad, but most people use that name for a Butterfly trick.
4. Poker Chip Tower Building is not listed here, as it’s more art than chip trick.

Related Links:

• Stephen Au-Yeung’s huge list of chip tricks, including invention credits
• 73 Chip Tricks performed by Khalek00[21ace]. The following YouTube keyboard shortcuts may be useful when watching this (not supported on all browsers):
  

  Key	Action
  J	Jump Back 10 seconds while playing (1/20th second while paused)
  K	Pause/Play
  L	Leap Forward 10 seconds while playing (1/20th second while paused)
  0	Rewind to beginning (other digits for 10% marks)

[RR] “Did you know that Steve Dannenmann’s nickname is Taxman?” Roderick the Rock asked Stan.

[SS] “Of course”, Stan the Stat affirmed. “Poker Player Nicknames is another one of my favorite lists! Should’ve mentioned it earlier.”

[RR] “Such a great handle for a successful poker player. As the Beatles sang, ‘one for you, nineteen for me’. Who else is on your list?”

The Top 100 Poker Player Nicknames With Explanations

Footnotes:

1. In 2009, Blom was only identified by his handle yet was competing successfully at the highest online stakes. His real identity wasn’t revealed until 2011, after he had signed on with PokerStars.